News from the Nest
September 4, 2024
A note from Mr. Thorne and Ms. Sobers . . .
We hope everyone had a fantastic Labor Day weekend. The kids returned excited and ready to fall right back into school routines and the teachers appeared refreshed and ready to go. We can’t be prouder of how positively our year has started. In grades K-3, VALLS testing (reading screening) has started and will occur over the course of the next couple of weeks. In grades 3-5 the Virginia Growth Assessments are on the horizon. See the article below for more details. We look forward to seeing everyone at Back to School Nights on 9/25 and 9/26, and we hope you can joint the PTO and Piney Branch Advisory Council for their first meetings on 9/18/24.
- Back to School Nights
- Chorus Club
- VGA Testing
Sincerely,
Steve Thorne and Monica Sobers
Fresh Takes
Piney Branch Parent Advisory Council (PBAC)
PBAC will be holding the first advisory council meeting for this school year on September 18th at 7:30 after the PTO meeting in the library.
What is parent advisory council?
It is a committee made up of parents, teachers, and admin to help focus on the issues that matter most to our Piney Branch families. We invite you to come by the library so that we can brainstorm together.
SACI Representative
What is SACI? SACI stands for Superintendent’s Advisory Counsel for Instruction. Representatives from schools across PWCS get to meet with the superintendent and executive staff monthly for this purpose. Each year PWCS asks that there be representative from the Parent Advisory Council to represent each school to bring forward questions, concerns, and parent feedback. SACI representatives are encouraged to attend SACI meetings on the second Thursday of every month from October through May. If you are interested in being the Piney Branch representative, please fill out the SACI Representative Interest form.
Chorus Club for 4th & 5th Graders
Calling all 4th and 5th Grade students who love to sing! If your 4th or 5th grader is interested in joining chorus, please fill out the Chorus Interest Form, or you can reach out to Mrs. Nichols if you have any questions.
Encore Events Calendar
For your convenience, Mrs. Nichols has prepared a flyer for you to refer to throughout the school year to remind you of upcoming encore events. Going forward the flyer will be posted under the Mark Your Calendar/ Upcoming Dates tab for you to refer to as needed.
Picture Day
Piney Branch students will be having their pictures taken on Tuesday September 17th. Envelopes will be coming home nearing the date or you can prepay and look at package deals here.
FALL Virginia Growth Assessments (Grades 3-5)
The Virginia Board of Education has adopted the Virginia Assessment Program to help track progress in the Standards of Learning (SOL). The SOLs indicate Virginia’s expectations for what students should know and be able to do in the subject areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history/social studies. Each year, students in specific grade levels and courses are expected to participate in SOL testing unless exempted by state or federal law or by Board of Education regulations. In the past, most students participated in SOL testing during the spring. However, recent legislation requires Grades 3-8 students to also participate in a growth assessment twice per school year.
This Fall, our Piney Branch 3rd,4th, and 5th graders will take the math growth assessment. At the conclusion of the test window, your student’s school will provide you with a report of their performance. Please note that there are no passing or failing scores associated with the growth assessments. Rather, they are designed to help track your student’s progress over the course of the school year. For more information about the growth assessments, please visit the Virginia Department of Education website
Piney Branch students will be testing on the following dates:
- 4th Grade MONDAY September 16*
- 5th Grade FRIDAY September 20
- 3rd Grade FRIDAY September 27 (starting after Encore)
*4th Grade will have lunch at 11:25 on this day.
If you have specific questions about testing at Piney Branch, please email Ms. Sobers [email protected] or call the office.
Attendance Matters
It is important for our parents and students to know the facts about attendance, build the habit of good attendance early, keep students engaged and on track, and communicate with the schools regularly. Learn more on the PWCS Attendance Support and Resources webpage.
Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) follows the provisions of Virginia law (Code of Virginia, §22.1-254) regarding compulsory attendance for all school-aged students.
PWCS uses an attendance management system that carefully tracks attendance and ensures that parents are notified in a timely and consistent manner.
Parents are notified daily when students are absent from school and the school has not received prior notification of the absence. Text messages are sent to elementary school parents in the morning and to middle/high school parents in both the morning and evening.
Attendance letters are sent to notify parents of truancy status when students accrue three unexcused absences. Letters are also sent to notify parents of excessive excused absences and if their student becomes chronically absent. Learn more about PWCS attendance letters.
Detailed information about attendance communication, types of absences, late arrival/early dismissal, and more is on the PWCS Attendance Guidelines webpage.
How sick is too sick for school?
For information about when your child should go to school or when they should stay home due to illness, visit the When to Keep Students home webpage.
If you have additional questions, please contact our school nurse Denise at [email protected]
Report your child’s absences
Parents should notify the school before, or at the start of, the school day when their child will be absent. Parents must send written or electronic communication citing the reason(s) for the absence to the school no more than five school days following the date of the absence.
As always please continue to report your student’s absence by emailing their teacher and [email protected] or adding it to ParentVue app.
For Good Measure
Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System (VALLSS)
Piney Branch Elementary School will be administering the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System (VALLSS) to all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd students in Prince William County. (Kindergarten will not begin until late September – details to follow).
Approximate testing windows are listed below:
3rd Grade: September 3 - September 23
2nd Grade: September 3 - September 23
1st Grade: September 5 - September 25
Make-up testing will continue throughout the testing window as needed.
A letter will be sent home with your child to explain testing in more detail. For more information, visit the PALS Legacy website at https://literacy.virginia.edu and click on the tab “Families +”.
Please feel free to contact Emily Kennedy or Cailyn West, Piney Branch’s Reading Specialists, at [email protected] and [email protected] or 571-261-5300 if you have any questions about VALLSS testing or procedures.
Back to School Nights
Piney Branch will hold student-led Back to School Nights on 9/25 & 9/26. Students will lead parents through Back to School Information in their classrooms. Both students and parents can attend.
9/25 – Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd Grades – 6:00-7:30 (open house format)
9/26 – 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades – 6:00-7:30 (open house format)
Accessing PBES Resources Outside of School
You can access our PBES resources like Canvas, Office 365 and Clever from almost wherever you are. Please see the following help videos to:
School Meals 2024-2025
Applications for free and reduced-price meals are now available on the PWCS Nutrition Site. Below, please find the USDA-approved school meal prices for the 2024-25 school year:
Breakfast
- Student full price - $1.60
- Adult price - $2.75
Lunch
- Elementary school student full price - $2.60
- Middle school student full price - $2.75
- High school student full price - $2.85
- Adult full price - $4.65
- A la carte –
- Milk, $1
- Bottled Water $1.00
- *Cookie $1.00 (one per day )
- *Packaged Snack $1.00 (one per day )
- Side Dish $1.50
- *Strawberry Shortcake $2.50(one per day )
Mark Your Calendar/Upcoming Events
- September 17th – Fall Pictures
- September 18th – PTO Meeting in PBES Library
- September 18th – PBAC Meeting
- September 19th – MOD Pizza Spirit Night
- September 20th – Outdoor Movie Night
PTO News
We are excited to invite you to join the parent-teacher organization (PTO) for the 2024-2025 school year. The PTO provides a fantastic opportunity for you to make a positive impact on our school and community.
September PTO Meeting
Learn more about who we are and what we do! Join us at our first meeting of the year on Wednesday, September 18 at 6:30 PM in the Piney Branch library.
Spirit Night: MOD Pizza
On September 19th MOD Pizza located on 13941 Promenade Commons Street in Gainsville will host a spirt night and give a portion of funds collected that night to our PTO. Please present the attached Mod Pizza flyer for the funds to go to PBES PTO. The fundraiser code is MODGIVES25.
Outdoor Movie Night
Please add to your calendar to join us on Friday, September 20th for our movie night. More details to come soon!
Become a member*! Your membership helps us support the Piney Branch community. You can also attend meetings and vote on initiatives that are important to you - but that is not a requirement. You do not have to attend meetings or volunteer to become a member.
Your time as a volunteer helps us execute our mission to support the students, teachers, staff, and parents at Piney Branch. It is also a great way to connect with our community. Volunteer opportunities are vast and flexible - choose what works best for you.
Payments can be made by clicking the Piney Branch venmo link*.
Save the Date for More Exciting PTO Events
- October PTO Meeting - Wednesday, October 16
- Silent Auction & Bingo Night - Friday, October 18
- Color Craze - Thursday, October 31
- November PTO meeting - Wednesday, November 20
- Spirit Night @ Haymarket Iceplex - December TBD
*This Website (Webpage) is not managed, approved, or sponsored by the Prince William County Public Schools.
Community Flyers and Announcements
GHS Cheer and Dance Fall Clinic
GHS is hosting their yearly Dance and Cheer Fall Clinic on September 22nd from 10am-2pm. Registration is open for k-8 PWCS students. Participants will learn a cheer/dance routine and technique and help make a football game banner. Finally, a performance of their newly taught routine at the GHS varsity football game on September 27th. For any further questions please reach out to coach Kilmer.
